Instantaneous water-heater.



R. a. FRAMPTON. INSTANTANEOUS WATER HEATER.

AIELIUATION FILED F334, 1910,

Patented July 18,1911.

.2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

R. G. HAMPTON.

INSTANTANEOUS WATER HEATER.

AYPLIOATION FILED TERA, 1910.

Patented july 38, 1911.

2 smu -SHEET 2.

INVENTOR I instantaneous water FiuoEl I REYNOLDS C. BRAMPTON OF SWISSVALE, Y PEN N SY LVANIA.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it knownthat I, Rnrrvonns C. FRAMP- TON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Swissvale, in the county OfrhlbghflU and State of'Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Instantaneous ier-Heaters, of which the following in a specification.

, .The invention relates to .mechanism for controlling the gas supply to the burners of heaters, and particularly to the structure of the controlling water valve where such valve is employed in. conjunction with a thermostat for securing a double regulation of a single gas valve. The invention has for its objects'the provision of an improved water valve construction wherein the stem of the valve may be retracted by the thermostat independently of the, water valve piston; and the pro vision of a water valve of the character specified which is self-contained, and in which all danger of the sticking of the operating stem is eliminated. One embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings,wherein:

Figure 1 is a front view of the heater, Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof, Figure Sis an enlarged detail partly in section, of the controlling mechanism, and Figure 4.- is an enlarged detail of the valve shownin the upper portion of Figure 3 with its piston in the position occupied when the outlet from the heater is open, the section being taken at right angles to that of Figure 3.

Heretofore it has been customary in in stantaneous water heaters to provide two independent valves, one of which is con trolled from the motor valve, or water valve as it is morerommonly termed, and

the othervalve is controlled by the ther,

mostat, such general construction being ccpending'application Se rial, No. 457,388. I have found that one of these gas valves may be dispensed with, and that the controlling means therefor may be so arranged that all the advantages incident to the two valve construction are retained, and other advantages not present in the two-valve construction secured, in addition to the general simplification and-chea iening of the apparatus due to the use of onesvalve instead of two.

That portion efftheapparatus in which. the department this application particu-.

U Specification of Iletters Patentw I Application filed february 4, 1910.

valve 11; 12 is 18 is a water pipe 'INSTAINTANEOUS wnrnn rrnarnn.

Patented July is, 1911 Serial no. 542th.

'larly resides is illustrated in the lower portion of Figure 3, but in order that the re lation of this structure to the general heater construction may be clear, the entire heater is illustrated'and will be described, reference being had to my co-pending application 457,383 heretofore referred to, for a detail description of that paratus claimed Referring first to the general arrangement of parts as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3; l is the casing of the heater; :2, 3 and-4 are the upper sets of coils of the boiler; 5 is the lower inverted set of coils, the lower coil of which set' is connected to the lower coil of the set 3 by means of-thepipe 6; 7 is the thermostat casing, which casing communicates with the upper coil of the set 5 by means of the pipe 8, and is provided with an outlet 9 for the hot waterwhich is to be distributed; 10 is the gas inlet pipe pro vided with the usually manually operated the gas valve casing, the valve 13 of which is automatically controlled from the thermostat and water valve in a manner to be hereinafter described; 14 is the gas pipe leading from the valve casing to the burners; 15 isthe water supply pipe shown and described but not loading to the automatic water valve casing 16; 17 is the piston valve in the casing; leading from the valve casing l6'to the casing 19 of the controlling check valve 20; 21 is a pipe leading from the casing 19-to the upper coil of the set 2; 22 is a tube leading from the upper portion of the casing 19 to the upper portion of the thermostat casing 7 and 23 is a pressure regulating valve whose construction may be portion of the ap of any approved type and is immaterial insofar as the invention of this application is concerned. From-the foregoing the general operation of the heater will and may be briefly stated as follows. faucet in the outlet 9 being opened,'a flow of water occurs through. the inlet 15 causing the piston valve 1'? to move to the right Fig. 3) and thence up through the pipe-18 to the check valve 20, moving such valve to the position of Figure 4, so that the water passes through the pipe 21 into the heater. The water then circulates down through the coils 2, 3 and 4, theconnection, 6, up through the coil 5, the connection, 8,1the

thermostat casing T, and to the outlet 9. When the faucet in theoutlet 9 is closed,"

the valve 17 moves baclr to the position in- 1 dicated in Figure 3, and the checl: valve :20 l moves down and seats itself as indicated in this figure. l l hen the valve 20 is in this lower position, a circulation occurs from the lower coil to the casing 7 and thence through the connection 22, valve casing 19, and connection 21 to the top coil of toe boiler.

The construction wherein the invention of this present application particularly resides will now be described in detaih reference being had to Figure 3 of the drawings.

The thermostat here shown is of the ordinary type, and comprises the copper or brass tube closed at its upper end, and the porcelain rod 25 fitting the tube and provided at its lower end with the usual metal cap 526 from which the lovers :2? and 28 are oper-- ated.- The lower end of the lever :28 is pr vided with a hole for the passage of the stem 29 of the valielil which stem 29 longitudinally adjustable with respect to the valve by means the screw 30. The collar 31 is also secured slidably upon the stem 29. and carries thereon an adjustable collar 32 against which a spring 2-33 bears. The-end of the stem 29 is provided with a cap 84, and the thermostat and its levers are so adjusted that when the temperature of the water in the thermostat casing is below the maximum for which the device is set, say below 150 degrees, the lower end of the lever 28 occupies about the position indicated in Figure 3 with a space between the cap 3st of the lever, so that the stern and the end and the valve 13 carried thereby may be normally operated from the water valve without interference with the thermostatic controlling means. When the outlet '9 is closed the piston 1'? of the water valve is held in the position indicated in Figure by means of the spring which springbears at its rear end against the screw cap 36 of the casing 37. The spring; 35 thus serves the double function of. hold the casing 37 in position and maintaining the piston 1? in its rearniost position. The casing 37 is provided at its front end with the tube which passes through the stuliing be of the valve casing. lwrounted in the tube 38 is the rod 39 carrying at its rear end the cap 40 which held in its forward position in the casing by means of the spring all. The gas valve 13 is held normally in closed position. by

means of the spring 42', and the combined strength of this spring and the spring is somewhat greater than that of the spring ill.

The strength of the spring as alone is less than that of either the springs ll or 35.

The combined action of the water valve and thermostatic controlling means in con nection with the gas valve is as follows. If the outlet from the heater is opened, the

pressure upon the left hand end of the pissas es hand position the temperature of the Water in the boiler and in the thermostatic casing T rises to a point above that for which the device is set, and thelever 28 under the influence of the spring 33 moves to the left carrying" with it the cap 34, which in turn forces the rod 39 to the left compressing the spring ll at the other end of such rod. This compression of the spring 41 is assured by reason of the factthat the combined strength of the s 'iring 42 and spring is greater than that of the spring 41 as heretofore pointed out. In this manner the closure of the gas valve is provided for regardless of the closure of the piston valve 17.

It will be seen that the actuation of the gas valve by the water valve is not in anywise interfered with by the thermostatic controlling; means during the normal operation of the apparatus. in addition to acting as safety device under the condition above set forth when the water valve sticks open, the thermostatic means also acts as a. con trolling device when the water valve is acting normally Without sticking, and in case the water rises above predetermined ten; perature the flow of gas is throttled or entircly cut off without altering the position the water valve. The use of the tube 38 ob\' i s any danger of sticking which might possibly otherwise occur if no tube were used, and the rod 39 had to be packed in order to prevent leakage. The casing-37 is made wat r tight so that the rod may fit as loosely is desired in the tube It will also be seen that under the condition of non-closure of the water valve as above described, a very positive and secure closing of *ulve StjOttl'cd. b reason of the fact t a: pressure of the powerful spring 33 augments that of the weaker spring 42 inclosing the gas valve. duces the danger of imperfect closure of the gas valve due to foreign matter upon the seat as the two springs are sufficient to cause a closure in cases where the spring 42 alone "would close the valve soimyverfectly as to permit the passage of a large amount of gas. it will also be seen by comparison of this apparatus with the two valve constructions as heretofore used, that the structure isvery much cheapened and simplified, and this without any loss ofelfectiveness of opera tion.

The construction of the controlling check valve is illustrated most clearly in Figures This very much re 3 and fl, andalthough'this' structure forms a portion. of the subject-matter claimed in the co-pending application heretofore ret'erred to, Ilwill briefly describe the device in order that the-description of the apparatus shown maybe complete, By reference j to the figures referredv to, it will be seen that the casing 19 is provided with an inboiler, and to the connection bushing is the Eaten five 20 having the twofireafls'fi and 59. The bushing is also provided with two sets .of ports 60 and 61 eading respectively to the passages 55' and 56. The piston valve'is held normallyin,

-- the position shown in Figure ,3 with its head covering the feed port 54 by -means of the spring 62. The valve parts occupy- Y -the position shown in Figure-'3, when no water is being drawn throughthe outlet 9. With the parts in this position water from the inverted orreverse coil 5 may circulate freely to'the upper coil 2 through the connection 8, the casing 7, the connection 22,

the ports and passages of the valve casing 19- and the connection 21. Areturn circulation to the boiler is alsoiprovided for by means of the pipe 63, and a continuous double circulation may be maintained, a part of the waterj from the thermostat ..easin passing up through the outlet'9 andaround through the system and back to the return-pipe 63, while another portion passes through the connection 22 to the casing-@19- and thence back to the upper coilfof the boiler. If the outlet through the 9-is opened, the piston valve willassume the position shown inYFigure 4 .by reason: 'ofthe unbalanced pressure on the opposite sides of 'such valve,

and the upflow through the, inlet pipe 18.

vWhen the partsare in this position the water from thegpipe 18 will pass through the valve casing 19 and out through the passage 55 and connection 21' to the upper.

coil.- of the boiler, and thence through the coils of the-boiler, the thermostat-casing 7 I andthe outlet pi i 9.

, thus ascribed my invention and illustrated its use, what '-I claim-as new and Havm desire to secure by Letters Patent is 'the following: a v a l. In an instantaneous water heater, a

burner, a normally closed fuel valve, ther- I mostatic controlling means for closing the;

valve when the temperature of the water rises above a predetermined point, and a 4 water actuated valve for opening the fuel valve'and comprising a valve casing having inlet aEdjfdfitlet ports, a piston for controlling maps-its; a stufiing box, a spring for holding the, pistonin position to close one of the ports; aclosed casing carriedby the piston and provided witha" tube extending through the stufling box, an auxiliary spring in the casing, and a rod held in forward position by the auxiliary spring extendin through the tube and adapted to operate e fuel valve.

- 2. In an instantaneous water *heater, a burner, a normally closed fuel valve, thermostatic controlling means for closing the valve when the temperature of the water rises above a predetermined point, and a water actuated valve for opening the fuel valve and comprising a/valve casing having inlet and outlet ports, a piston for con-.

trolling the ports, a stufiing box, a spring for holding the piston in position to close one of the ports; a rod extending through the stufiing box and adapted to operate the fuel valve 'and an auxiliary spring in the valve casing interposed between the rod and piston.

433. In combination in a water valve for an instantaneous heater, a valve casing provided with ports and a stufling box, a piston for controlling the flow between the ports, a spring for holding the piston in position to out off communication between the ports, a closed casing carried by the piston and provided with a tube extending through the stufiing box, an auxiliary spring in the cas ing, and a rod extending through the tube v and held yieldingly in forward position by the auxiliary spring.

' In testimony- 'whereof I have hereunto signedmy name in the presence of the two subscribed witnesses. REYNOLDS o. FRAMPTON.

Witnesses JAMES QEmmx, Joni V. WHITE. 

